Lagos free medical mission reaches 15,000 Lekki residents

No fewer than 15,595 people resident in Lekki Local Council Development Area of Lagos and its environs have benefited from free health consultation, screening and treatment for various ailments and diseases including hypertension, diabetes, eye and dental diseases from the just concluded free medical expedition held in the area between Wednesday 13 and Sunday 17, this month, the State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris has said.

Idris, who made this known, Wednesday, while reviewing the report of the five-day medical expedition, stated that the Mission is a comprehensive health care initiative that covers primary, secondary and tertiary levels of prevention and was introduced in the quest to find ways to take health care to the grassroots and under-served areas of the state.

He opined that the Health Mission is particularly significant because it assists the government in its efforts at bringing, to the barest minimum, the number of untimely deaths in the State particularly as the beneficiaries of the programme include the most vulnerable members of the population at the grassroots like the elderly, children, youth and pregnant women who are prone to infections and other maternal and child health-related diseases.

Giving statistics on the just concluded mission, the Commissioner said a total of 1,595 people benefitted from eye screening and treatment including getting free eye glasses and medications adding that 547 people were treated for various dental ailment while 2,807 people had access to reproductive health services stressing also that 10,644 people were treated for other ailments like hypertension, diabetes, malaria amongst others.

Idris stated that the periodic organisation of the medical missions is meant to compliment the normal health delivery services in the state with the objective of addressing the pressing health issues of the rural communities in the state in line with the state government’s free health policy and the health sector reform as part of an overall efforts geared towards tackling the challenges in the health sector.